


Growing Up

by Megalomaniacal



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Kids, Multi, Prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 01:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12570984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megalomaniacal/pseuds/Megalomaniacal
Summary: In which Mac and Dennis are grumpy married dads with a teenage daughterAlso just pretend for fucks sake that this is a magical world where they can magically combine sperm and my two boys can have a biological baby





	Growing Up

**Author's Note:**

> This is so poorly written and short and bad but let me write fluff for once okay

"Venus!" Dennis shouted, fixing his tie in the hallway mirror. He looked dashing as ever, his few grey hairs dyed a nice, soft brown, curls carefully styled to make him look younger than he was. He had on a nice white button up and a black suit jacket with dress pants to match. He couldn't help but notice that he got better with age, just like fine wine. 

"What?" His daughters voice came from upstairs, tinged with annoyance. "I'm getting dressed, dad!" 

Dennis huffed. "We need to take pictures, Venus! Is your father almost done up there?"

"I dunno, he's been in your bathroom for, like, ten years!" She yelled back. "Go check on him?"

Dennis sighed and rolled his eyes but couldn't help the smile that had been pulling at the corners of his lips all morning. It was the day of his daughter's senior prom. She was 17- beautiful, funny, intelligent- and he was extremely proud of her. He walked right past her room, purposely avoiding looking in the door, and reached the end of the hall to his own bedroom, waltzing right in and then entering the bathroom. 

"Jesus Christ, Mac." 

Mac was bent over the sink crying, his suit matching Dennis's, his hair not at all slicked back, and he was crying. 

"Hey." Dennis walked up behind him, arms wrapping around his husband's waist. "Hey, dude. What's wrong?"

He didn't respond for a moment. 

"She's so old!" Mac finally sobbed, leaning back against Dennis. "She's not a baby anymore."

"She hasn't been a baby for over a decade now."

"She's so old! Some girl is going to snatch our baby away!"

Dennis couldn't help but laugh and press his face to the crook of Mac's neck. He smelled like too much cologne and the gray hairs on his head were much too obvious, but his skin was warm and soft and Dennis didn't mind. "Our daughter will fall in love with someone someday, you can't stop that." He murmured. "She'll still be our girl." 

Mac sniffled and nodded, relaxing significantly the longer Dennis held him, finally wiping his eyes as he finished crying. Luckily he didn't wear makeup, leaving no traces of his little episode behind. 

"Dads?" A knock came at the bedroom door, footsteps following, and then she was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, dressed in a long, deep blue gown that flared out just a bit at the waist, strapless and covered in just the right amount of sparkles. Her hair and makeup had been done earlier that morning, her naturally curled, dark hair styled to look even more beautiful than usual, makeup perfectly framing her blue-green eyes, her lips painted a deep purple color. Dennis almost cried at the sight, suddenly understanding Mac's point. 

"Venus." Mac practically wailed, walking up to hug his daughter. "You look so beautiful. Daddy is so proud. Dennis, Dennis, look at her." 

Dennis smiled and nodded. "All grown up. Still gotta call us and check in though." She laughed softly at that, making Dennis smile wider. 

Somehow, in some insane turn of events, their daughter had turned out to be one of the kindest people Dennis had ever met. She had an anxiety disorder, but as long as she took her meds it stayed under control and she was able to live a perfectly normal, happy life. Dennis couldn't believe she was eighteen. He remembered when she was first born, eyes wide and bright green, a tiny tuft of hair on her head, and how she almost always slept through the night. 

He remembered when she was a toddler, her curly hair in a short, silly baby bowl cut, chubby legs straightening out as she stood and took her first steps, clapping and giggling happily when she fell on her butt soon after. He remembered her first words- she was sitting on Dennis's lap in the backyard while Mac cooked on the grill and she opened her mouth to yell 'bad da!' at Mac, who'd flipped a burger on the ground by accident. Dennis remembered laughing at the shocked look on his husband's face. He remembered staying up that night looking through old photo albums wondering how it took them so long to get to that point in which they could be happy. 

He remembered them both doubting that they would be good fathers, and that doubt being completely gone when they spent forever fussing over what outfit to put on her for her first day of school and crying more than she did when they had to drop her off. They'd taken her for ice cream after, chocolate drips staining her yellow shirt, and Dennis had never felt happier. 

When she was in third grade, she caught the flu. Dennis had been called by the school to come pick her up and hurried to get there, finding his daughter sniffling and crying, looking unnaturally pale as she laid on the plastic mattress in the nurse's office. He'd stopped to get her medicine and called Mac, and the three of them spent the day lying on the couch watching cartoons and drinking blue Gatorade, buried under a pile of blankets. 

He'd done her hair in two French braids on her first day of middle school and when she came home crying, Mac had known just what to do to calm her down and find out that one of the boys had pulled at her braids and made fun of her during math. Mac, of course, marched right into school with her the next day and almost tore the kid in half before being asked to leave the classroom. She came home crying a lot throughout middle school, leaving class because of panic attacks, eating lunch in the bathroom, and Dennis and Mac finally took her to therapy to realize she had a social anxiety disorder. She was scared and confused about being diagnosed, but her dads had been kind about it, telling her it was going to be okay, and she believed them. 

She hung out at her Aunt Dee's when Dennis and Mac weren't around, always coming home talking about some obscure fake facts she'd learned from her Uncle Charlie, and Mac found a stash of weed in her room a few months into her freshman year. He'd taken it away and talked to her in private about how drugs and alcohol had really messed with her family before. He cried and she cried and they ended up falling asleep together on her bed. Years flew by, and then she was a senior, looking like a princess before her prom. 

"You look beautiful, Venus." Dennis assured her, patting her shoulder before leading her and Mac down the stairs to where Dee and Charlie were waiting in the living room, arguing over the camera while their twin twelve year old sons sat on the floor arguing about some stupid video game. Both twins were blonde and blue eyed, but their facial structure looked almost scarily similar to Charlie's. The twin boys were almost impossible to tell apart, except for the fact that Charles was covered in freckles and Frank was not. 

Dennis remembered the argument those two had over their baby names and smiled to himself. 

"Hey, Dee! I need pictures, cmon." Dennis called over, leading his husband and daughter over in front of a pair of sliding glass doors. Venus stood between them, smiling brightly as her aunt got up to take the picture. 

"Always a pain, Dennis." Dee mumbled, trying to figure out the mechanics of the camera, finally taking way too many pictures when she did. Dennis took a picture of her and Charlie with Venus next, and then Venus with the twins. 

"Who's your date?" Charles asked, grinning up at his cousin. Venus laughed, lips spread wide into a smile. 

"No date. Just friends." She shrugged, turning to Dennis. "Dad, can we get going? I told Eileen I'd meet her at the park and I'm gonna be late if we don't go." 

Dennis nodded, carefully getting Mac and Venus into the car. Mac was crying again, Venus was smiling in the backseat, and suddenly, all those years stuck in their dirty old pub seemed worth it. He'd thought for so long that nothing would change. 

He was wrong. Loving Mac changed him. Having Venus changed him. 

For once in his life, Dennis Reynolds was truly happy. He loved his husband and his child, and he'd never wanted to live more. Coming back to Philly had been worth it. Leaving North Dakota was the best decision he'd ever made. 

He parked his car and watched his daughter walk out to meet her friends and leave him, even if only for a night. He turned to look at Mac in the passenger seat. 

"Did you ever think we'd end up here?"

Mac shook his head, cracking a small smile. "I'm glad we did."


End file.
